The Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus: A Biographical Investigation

Josephus with the words: ὁ πρῶτος ὑμῶν στρατηγός (135), and for his part Josephus attempts
to sway the imprisoned Tiberians, μὴ δυσανασχετεῖν ἐμοὶ στρατηγῷ (176). As a matter of fact,
the Galileans did esteem Josephus as commander (231, 250), they approved of his military
leadership (251) and refuted the allegations that he was a bad commander (249). But even now,
in all these matters, it is not really the war with Rome that is under consideration; according to
205 the Galileans are afraid of becoming prey for the robbers if they should be deprived of
Josephus’ leadership.
At any rate, we see the complete shift in Josephus’ attitude after the departure of his
“fellow envoys”: He transformed himself from an envoy into a leader. But Josephus did not
now in any way convey a new directive that should really have been imparted to him from
Jerusalem; the presentation completely passes over this drastic change, which is not actually
disclosed as such anywhere. So this observation, which we have acquired on the basis of a
wealth of material, has in fact not been made until now either. But it is fundamental to
everything that happened at that time; because if Josephus, together with two fellow envoys,
had the mandate from Jerusalem to disarm the robbers and to provide for peace in Galilee, but
after fulfilment of this [108] mandate and after dismissing his fellow envoys he then actually
remains in the land and exercises a military position there, then this constitutes a clear [case
of] overstepping his orders. Since this is not justified or excused by Josephus with a single
word, however, it is then quite obvious that Josephus intended to evade this dark point. But
fortunately for us his opponents prevented this: In an open gathering Josephus’ opposition, i.e.
the envoys coming from Jerusalem, raise the serious accusation: Josephus has aspired to
tyranny, and by deceiving the mob of Galileans with his speeches he gained the
rulership for himself (302). According to this, no doubt is possible: Josephus used the
departure of the envoys in order to set himself up as regent of Galilee. The entire opposition
against Josephus emerged because of this, and only because of this. The official delegate from
Jerusalem was allowed to function, but it was against the man who remained behind in the
land, after his fellow envoys had returned home, in order to be able to fish in troubled waters
there, that people turned both in Galilee and in Jerusalem, as soon as they had heard there
about the events in Galilee. Therefore, at that time Josephus no longer held any official
position; he had remained in the land against the orders of government authority!
But how did he manage all the same to gain such a position in Galilee as he actually did
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